Category Archives: Business & Politics

Business & Politics

BC’s forests minister open to lumber quotas if it solves U.S. trade dispute

By Mark Page
Today in BC – Black Press
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Ravi Parmar

BC Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said that if lumber quotas are what is needed to end the decades-old softwood lumber dispute with the United States, then so be it. “It just may be able to address this issue once and for all,” Parmar said. Premier David Eby floated the possibility… and Prime Minister Mark Carney said it could be in the cards. …Parmar acknowledged BC lumber companies might have “differing views” on quotas, but he said it is just one tool. Kurt Niquidet, president of BC Lumber Trade Council did not rule out quotas. “Resolving this long-standing dispute is essential to protecting jobs, supporting communities, and ensuring a stable, competitive future for our forest sector,” Niquidet said. …Regardless of whether Canada puts quotas on the table as part of negotiations, Parmar said Trump could balk. “The president seems to really like tariffs,” Parmar said. “And so he may say, bugger off.”

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Level of US tariffs Canada would accept in trade deal still up for negotiation, Carney says

By Steven Chase, Stephanie Levitz & Laura Stone
The Globe and Mail
July 16, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Prime Minister Carney says securing a truce in the long-running Canada-US lumber dispute is a top priority as Canadian producers brace for even heftier US levies as early as September. …Mr. Carney declined to say what level of baseline tariff Ottawa would accept in a new trade and security pact with Washington. …Mr. Carney was asked whether Canada would impose tariffs on US products if the US keeps a baseline levy on Canadian goods. “We’ll see what the final agreement is, if there is an agreement,” he said. …Historically, Mr. Carney said lumber deals with the US contain “some element of managed trade” such as quotas on Canadian shipments to the US. …Mr. Pellerin, a former Canadian government softwood litigator, said he thinks it would be unwise to strike a deal before litigation related to the softwood dispute plays out. There are several challenges of US duties on softwood proceeding under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement dispute mechanism. [This story is for Globe and Mail subscribers only]

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US Lumber Coalition Responds to Prime Minister Carney Statement

The US Lumber Coalition
July 16, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Zoltan van Heyningen

Prime Minister Carney and BC Premier Eby are advancing the idea of setting aside the enforcement of the US trade laws against unfairly traded Canadian lumber. …Canada does not voluntarily give up its remedies against unfairly traded imports from other countries but they are now asking the US to do precisely that. Canada is asking the US to do a favor for Canadian workers at the expense of US workers. “The US has collected over $7 billion dollars in duties and Canada’s request to terminate these cases and refund money would be the single biggest bailout of the Canadian lumber industry funded by US taxpayers and would come at the expense of US workers and loggers”, said Zoltan van Heyningen. …“It is also essential to implement additional measures under Section 232 to address the underlying cause of Canadian unfair trade practices,” added van Heyningen. “We must not yield to Canadian demands.”

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Canada weighs limits on US lumber exports to ease trade friction, BC Premier says

By Ananya Palyekar
Reuters
July 16, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Canada is open to considering limits on softwood lumber exports to the U.S. to try to ease some trade friction between the neighboring countries, British Columbia Premier David Eby told Bloomberg News in a report published on Wednesday. “One of the asks for years out of the American coalition has been a quota — that there’s a fixed amount of lumber that gets to come from Canada,” Eby told Bloomberg News. “And I think that, for the first time, there’s some willingness to have a conversation about what that could look like.” [to access the full story, a Reuters or Bloomberg Economics subscription is required]

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Northern Pulp to initiate sale of assets

By Anjuli Patil
CBC News
July 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

Northern Pulp has announced it will initiate a court-supervised sales process of its assets after it confirmed it wasn’t able to secure funding for a new mill project. In a news release Monday night, the insolvent company said the decision follows completion of a comprehensive feasibility study that concluded Northern Pulp could not achieve the 14 per cent internal rate of return required in a settlement agreement with the province to develop a bleached softwood kraft pulp mill and bioproducts hub near Liverpool, N.S. “Northern Pulp is thankful for the support and collaboration of the Province of Nova Scotia and local stakeholders throughout the feasibility study,” the company said in the release. Nova Scotia’s minister of natural resources said Northern Pulp’s announcement was “not the outcome we had hoped for.”

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Drax appoints Deidra L. Jackson as Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs for North America

Drax Group Inc.
July 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Deidra Jackson

Drax Group, a global leader in renewable energy and carbon removals, has appointed Deidra L. Jackson as Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs North America, effective August 4. Jackson will be responsible for leading the corporate affairs strategy and stakeholder engagement across the region, including government relations, media, industry partnerships, and community outreach. Jackson brings a distinctive blend of expertise in public affairs, corporate communications, and policy advocacy, honed through leadership roles at global consulting firms and major energy and chemical companies. Most recently, she served as Chief External Affairs Officer at Ridgeline Advocacy Group and Senior Advisor at FTI Consulting where she advised Fortune 500 clients on complex communications challenges, ESG strategy, and regulatory engagement. Jackson has also held senior roles at BASF, ICF Consulting, Shell Oil Products US, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she led initiatives spanning stakeholder activism, crisis management, corporate philanthropy, and workforce development.

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We’re hiring! Join the Forest Stewardship Council Canada Team

Forest Stewardship Council Canada
July 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

Just as we depend on forests, forests depend on all of us.  At the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), your work will create a better future for forests and people around the world. When you join our team, you can do your part to build a world where the true value of forests is recognized by all.

  • Director of Policy Standards: The Director of Policy & Standards will be responsible for coordinating and overseeing the successful development or revision of FSC forest related standards (National Forest Stewardship Standard and National Risk Assessment) and related tools; to support the implementation and coordinate the monitoring of these standards.
  • Business Development Manager, Corporate Partnerships: FSC Canada is seeking a highly motivated and dynamic individual to join our team as Business Development Manager, Corporate Partnerships, responsible for cultivating and managing brand and retail partnerships.

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The Nightmare Mess Left by One Closed Pulp Mill

By Zoe Yunker
The Tyee
July 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

In February of 2019, the owners of a century-old pulp mill in Port Alice, on northern Vancouver Island, told their workers to “lock the gate.” Inside, a sprawling waste site containing oil, asbestos, mercury, chlorine and carcinogenic chemicals stood at “imminent risk of failure.” Six years and one landfill landslide later, the province has spent over $150 million to address the site’s immediate risks — but dangers remain. …Court documents reveal a slow-brewing catastrophe at the mill, last known as Neucel and owned by a Chinese company called Fulida Group Holdings before it went bankrupt. …According to the most recent court filing in May by PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada, the province spent $22 million on the cleanup last year alone. With at least another year of work ahead to close the landfill, the receiver is authorized to spend $170 million by next spring, and more public money will be required to finish the job.

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Canada aims for new US trade deal by Aug. 1 as Trump threatens 35% tariffs

By Hunter Crowther
CTV NewsB
July 11, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Donald Trump announced Thursday the US will charge a 35% tariff on Canadian imports starting Aug. 1. In an open letter to Prime Minister Carney, he wrote “if you decide to raise your Tariffs, we will be added onto the 35% that we charge.” …“These Tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country.” Carney posted on social media that Canada would work towards a revised deadline of Aug. 1 in reaching a new trade deal with the US. “Canada has made vital progress to stop the scourge of fentanyl in North America,” Carney wrote. …Trump pointed to what he called “unsustainable” trade deficits, as well as the Canadian dairy sector. On Wednesday, Trump announced a 50% tariff on copper imports. The US was Canada’s largest copper importer in 2023, accounting for 52% of the total export value. That same year, Canada’s exports of copper and copper-based products were valued at $9.3 billion.

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US Lumber Coalition Calls for Elimination of Expedited CVD Reviews

By Zoltan van Heyningen
TargetedNews Service
July 9, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

WASHINGTON, July 9 — The U.S. Lumber Coalition (USLC) has submitted a public comment letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce urging the elimination of expedited countervailing duty (CVD). …Zoltan van Heyningen, Executive Director of USLC, emphasized the need to “put American workers, manufacturers, and producers first.” The letter cites the detrimental impact expedited CVD reviews have had on the domestic lumber industry, asserting that these reviews serve as a platform for unfairly subsidized imports. [to access the full story, a TargetedNews Service subscription is required]

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US Homebuilders comment on new tariff deadline, pending Section 232 lumber tariffs

The National Association of Home Builders
July 10, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

President Trump has announced he will extend the pause on reciprocal tariffs for another three weeks until Aug. 1 and impose a 50% tariff on copper. …The US imports nearly half of its copper. …The timeline for enactment of the copper tariffs is still unclear, but the market has already begun to respond with record-high prices. …Separately, the administration previously launched a Section 232 investigation focusing on whether lumber imports constitute a threat to national security. NAHB strongly disputes this notion and we filed comments underscoring that housing is a critical component of national security. …“Our housing crisis is a bigger threat to national security than imported lumber or timber,” NAHB’s letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated. “Lumber from Canada simply does not present the same national security threat as oil from the Middle East or steel, aluminum, rare earth minerals, or advanced computing chips from China.”

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Eby reshuffles BC cabinet, switching up heads of housing, public safety and jobs

CBC News
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

David Eby

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s cabinet has been reworked in what Premier David Eby says is a strategic shift in order to focus on jobs and the economy. “The world has changed since the election and since the swearing in of our first cabinet,” said Eby. …Former housing minister Ravi Kahlon takes over as minister responsible for jobs from Diana Gibson, who moves into the citizens’ services role previously held by George Chow. Garry Begg has been ousted as solicitor general and will be replaced by Nina Krieger. Christine Boyle will take over the housing portfolio and her Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation goes to Spencer Chandra-Herbert. The premier says his cabinet will work on the province’s biggest challenges: growing the economy, seizing investment opportunities and strengthening public services.

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WorkSafeBC surplus means big breaks in forestry premiums, but some labour groups cry foul

By Derrick Penner
Vancouver Sun
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

B.C.’s employers in forestry-related businesses, sawmilling, stone cutting and oil and gas field servicing could be seen as the biggest beneficiaries of WorkSafeBC’s $2 billion surplus as the corporation proposes cuts to their service premiums approaching 40 per cent or more. WorkSafeBC’s policy is to maintain enough of a surplus “to avoid rate volatility” during economically difficult times. The corporation’s 2024 surplus, however, is equivalent to 141 per cent of liabilities, far more than its 130 per cent target. The corporation says its strong financial position has been helped along by “higher than-required investment returns,” according to WorkSafe’s statement, which is similar to workers-compensation agencies across the country. Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board has used its 2024 surplus to issue $4 billion in rebates, over two rounds, to employers and in May, the Workers’ Compensation Board of Manitoba did likewise with $122 million in rebates, which is something the Canadian Federation of Business would like to see.

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Campbell River looks to resources as marine services firm leaves

By Ish Sharma
The Western Investor
July 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

CAMPBELL RIVER, BC — Amix Marine Services, which has been providing tugs, barges and other resources to the marine community in Campbell River, is now crossing into Port Alberni’s waters. Amix recently bought 45 acres on the Port Alberni waterfront from Western Forest Products for $7.3 million and plans to move operations over the course of the summer and make the city its home port by this fall. Amix employed 20 people in Campbell River but the ripple effects of its loss will be felt by suppliers and businesses that support the city’s marine sector as a whole. …Port Alberni was attractive to Amix because of the opportunity to expand on property it owned, rather than be limited to the 6.4 acres it’s been leasing in Campbell River. …Amix’s loss will be offset by a variety of major projects rooted in the resource and clean energy sector.

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Vancouver Fraser Port Authority opens bids for Roberts Bank Terminal 2 build

By Jeremy Hainsworth
Business in Vancouver
July 10, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is now searching for a construction company to plan and build the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 container port project wharf and landside facilities. The port said the state-of-the-art marine container terminal will unlock over $100 billion in new trade capacity and contributing $3 billion in GDP annually. …Construction is planned to begin in 2028, and the terminal is expected to be in operation by the mid-2030s. …The port authority has signed mutual benefits agreements with 27 First Nations. …Following the federal and provincial governments’ 2023 approval of the project, the port authority submitted a Species at Risk Act-compliant Fisheries Act authorization application in 2024. A decision on that, the final major permit, is expected no later than October 2026, the port authority said. …Pang said the terminal will be a catalyst for economic transformation nationally. He said it aims to support Prairie grain exports and BC’s forestry sector.

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Kim Haakstad, BC Council of Forest Industries CEO, named to BIV BC 500 list

By Council of Forest Industries (via LinkedIn)
Business in Vancouver
June 30, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

Congratulations to COFI’s President & CEO, Kim Haakstad, on being named to BIV’s BC 500 list recognizing influential leaders shaping British Columbia’s future! Haakstad was selected for her leadership in advocating for a competitive, sustainable, and inclusive forest sector that supports jobs, communities, and climate solutions across B.C. With over 20 years of experience at the intersection of business and government, Haakstad’s work reflects COFI’s commitment to the long-term success of forestry in our province. She has over 20 years of experience at the intersection of business and government. She leads advocacy for BC’s forest sector, emphasizing sustainable forestry, Indigenous reconciliation and economic growth. Haakstad also serves on non-profit and innovation boards, reflecting her commitment to community and forward-thinking leadership. 

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Cascades invests more than $3.5 million in its Kingsey Falls tissue plant

Cascades Inc.
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Hugues Simon & Jérôme Porlier

KINGSEY FALLS, Quebec — Cascades announced it has recently invested $3,560,000 to upgrade a strategic converting line at its Kingsey Falls tissue plant. The investment involved replacing a packager and bagger with higher-performance equipment, which will result in two major benefits, namely optimizing the bathroom tissue packaging process and increasing productivity. The project is expected to increase the converting line’s production rate at the packaging level by 8% compared to current performance levels, as well as improve overall line throughput, specifically through improved availability and a faster average speed. …This investment exceeding $3.5 million—part of our continuous improvement efforts—demonstrates our commitment to driving our growth,” said Hugues Simon, President and CEO of Cascades. …Opened in 1977, the Kingsey Falls tissue plant currently serves the residential hygiene solutions market. 

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Are we suckers for giving out ‘job creating’ loans like Northern Pulp too easily?

By John DeMont
The Chronicle Herald
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Stop me if you have heard this one before. A company from away lands and makes loud noises about hiring hundreds of people in a job-hungry rural part of Nova Scotia. Government puts up millions of our dollars to bring in a new industry it really doesn’t understand. …Sometimes it works, other times the receivers move in or the multi-nationals move out. Then the recriminations begin. They already have in the 58-year-long saga of Northern Pulp and its predecessor companies which limps to a conclusion in Nova Scotia. This province has had a few successful commercial transplants. …But it is our high-profile failures, like this week’s announcement that Northern Pulp not only wouldn’t build a mill on the South Shore but has started selling off its assets, that seem to stick. …Enough companies have gone bust, sometimes spectacularly so, that they should serve as cautionary tales.

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‘We want to see softwood on the table in these trade talks’: Premier Holt

By Adam Huras
The Telegraph-Journal
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East, United States

Susan Holt

New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt says she’s part of a push to see a nearly decade-long softwood lumber standoff end as part of a larger new trade deal with the US. But the premier stopped short of saying whether her government supports the idea of a quota limit,” if that’s what it takes to finally reach a deal. …“The tariffs that are currently in place on softwood lumber are damaging to New Brunswick and the forecast that those tariffs are going to increase significantly has put a real chilling effect on a critical industry for our province.” …New Brunswick’s largest forestry company J.D. Irving, Limited currently pays a duty of 11.68%, while the province’s other softwood producers, including Arbec, H.J. Crabbe & Sons Ltd., Marwood, and Twin Rivers have been assessed a combined rate of 14.54%. The preliminary plans for higher duty rates are set to take effect by September.

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Province promises more wood heat, wood buildings in wake of Northern Pulp selling off assets

By Taryn Grant
CBC News
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Days after Nova Scotia’s forestry sector was dealt a major blow, the province is promising to use more wood to heat and construct public buildings — although officials deny any connection between the two developments. Two cabinet ministers made the announcement Thursday at Ledwidge Lumber, a sawmill in Enfield, N.S. Public Works Minister Fred Tilley said every government department is being directed to look for opportunities to use wood products that are leftover after trees have been harvested and milled for lumber. The products could include mass timber, wood pellets, biomass and biofuels. Tilley said the move was driven by the province’s desire to become more self-reliant, reduce fossil fuel use and produce more locally-made construction materials. …Meanwhile, lawyers for Northern Pulp were in a British Columbia courtroom on Thursday where they received approval for a plan to extend creditor protection while preparations continue to auction off the outfit’s Nova Scotia assets.

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Fire at Tatamagouche, N.S., lumber yard under control

By Natalie Lombard
CTV News
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada East

©Truro&Colchester FB

A fire broke out at a lumber yard in Tatamagouche, N.S., Wednesday afternoon. It reportedly started after a piece of equipment malfunctioned and overheated, sparking the blaze. The fire then appeared to spread to some stacked wood and burned through some inventory. Conditions for firefighters were challenging with very warm temperatures. About a dozen fire departments responded, as well as a Department of Natural Resources helicopter, and managed to get the fire under control.

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Georgia-Pacific Announces $191 Million CAD Capital Investment in Englehart OSB Mill

By Georgia-Pacific
Cision Newswire
July 15, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East, United States

ENGLEHART, Ontario — Georgia-Pacific announced a new capital project for the company’s Englehart OSB mill in Ontario. The approximately $191 million CAD investment will fund a new log processing system and include the expansion and construction of a new finished goods warehouse. This investment comes as Englehart OSB celebrates its fifteenth anniversary as a Georgia-Pacific facility. The first board was produced at the mill in 1983. David Neal, executive VP, building products, “This investment strengthens our operational capabilities and positions the Englehart mill for greater productivity in the years ahead.” …John Beers, president –structural panels, “These improvements will continue our focus on staying competitive and ensures Englehart is an environmentally conscious, 21st century mill.” Design and engineering work has started, and the project is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2027.

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AV Terrace Bay pulp mill fined for air emissions breach

Government of Ontario
July 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

TERRACE BAY, Ontario — AV Terrace Bay has been convicted on two charges: Failing to control the quality of discharged effluent to ensure that acute toxicity tests resulted in no more than a 50% mortality rate for the test organisms; and Failing to comply with an industry standard by discharging Total Reduced Sulphur compounds. …AV Terrace Bay was convicted of two violations under the Environmental Protection Act, fined $525,000 plus a victim fine surcharge of $131,250, and given 12 months to pay. …Due to financial constraints and market conditions, the mill has been in a warm idle state and has not been producing product or revenue since at least January 2024. The mill generates industrial effluent that undergoes primary and secondary treatment prior to discharging to Lake Superior via Blackbird Creek. …On May 1, 2023, 100% of the Rainbow Trout died during an acute lethality test performed on a grab sample of the mill’s final effluent.

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Northern Pulp’s decision to sell off assets a blow to N.S. forestry sector

By Michael Gorman
CBC News
July 15, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

For Todd Burgess and the rest of Nova Scotia’s forestry sector, word that Northern Pulp is abandoning the idea of a new multi-billion-dollar operation near Liverpool was not the news they were hoping for. “It’s devastating, really, for forestry in Nova Scotia,” said Burgess, executive director of Forest Nova Scotia. “It’s going to make it more difficult for woodlot owners to manage their woodlot properly, it’s going to be difficult for forestry contractors to succeed and be profitable.” …Marcus Zwicker, the company’s chief operating officer, said the sector has struggled to find a market for low-grade byproducts from lumber production and harvests since Northern Pulp shut down in 2020. …He and Burgess both said they also have concerns about the loss of the greenhouses Northern Pulp used to maintain, which would produce millions of seedlings a year for reforestation efforts. Rushton said officials in his department are looking at potential options to fill the gap.

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Newfoundland’s Richard Dewey takes on Corner Brook pulp mill over Deer Lake contamination

By Diane Crocker
The Telegram
July 9, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

ST. JOHNS, Newfoundland — St. John’s lawyer Bob Buckingham is not sure how an investigation into the illegal burial of hazardous and contaminated materials in Deer Lake will take place, but he’s giving all the credit for it happening to one man. Buckingham represents Richard Dewey, a resident of Deer Lake who, for more than a decade, has worked to bring attention to three separate environmental issues in the town: the burial of the hazardous and contaminated materials, pollution of the town’s drinking water and property damage caused by seepage from the Humber Canal. …Dewey made a complaint to the provincial government claiming that creosote-contaminated soil was trucked from beneath the penstocks on the Humber Canal and buried near the town’s water supply, and that creosote-soaked penstocks were dumped at the closed town landfill.

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USDA Forest Service Invests $80 Million to Expand Timber Markets, Protect Forests, Fuel Economic Growth

By US Department of Agriculture
Government of the United States
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins today announced the U.S. Forest Service is awarding $80 million in Wood Innovation Grants to spur wood products manufacturing, expand active forest management, and accelerate energy innovation across America’s timber-producing communities. “The United States is blessed with a bounty of natural resources that we must properly manage to sustain our future economy and boost rural communities. Proper forest use and management lowers our reliance on foreign products and is inherently aligned with President Trump’s America First agenda,” said Secretary Rollins. “We’re investing in innovation that ensures a steady, sustainable supply of American wood that not only supports jobs and fuels economies, it protects the people and communities we serve, as well as the forest resources they depend on to survive and thrive.” This investment delivers on President Trump’s commitment to unleashing America’s abundant natural resources by tearing down unnecessary barriers…

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US Trade Representative to investigate Brazil’s trade, ethanol and forestry market practices

By Joe Adamy
Michigan Farm News
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, International

Is Brazil playing fair when it comes to trade? An investigation launched July 15 by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) aims to find the answer. The Section 301 investigation will seek to determine whether acts, policies, and practices of the Government of Brazil related to a host of trade issues — including ethanol market access and forestry practices — are “unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S. commerce.” “Brazil has walked away from its willingness to provide virtually duty-free treatment for U.S. ethanol and instead now applies a substantially higher tariff on U.S. ethanol exports,” the USTR office wrote in announcing the investigation. The announcement also said Brazil appears to be failing to effectively enforce laws and regulations designed to stop illegal deforestation — which undermines the competitiveness of U.S. producers of timber and ag products.

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AF&PA Appreciates US Efforts to Address Non-Tariff Trade Barriers

The American Forest & Paper Association
July 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

WASHINGTON – American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Heidi Brock today reacted to recent US-EU trade negotiations: “We appreciate President Trump and his administration’s efforts to further enhance fair and reciprocal trade with key partners like the European Union. Addressing tariff and non-tariff trade barriers is crucial to ensuring a positive trade relationship for the pulp, paper, packaging and tissue products manufacturing industry. “The EU’s deforestation free regulation (EUDR), which has been identified as a non-tariff trade barrier by the U.S. Trade Representative, risks over $3.5 billion in annual forest products exports to the EU. “We encourage President Trump and his administration to continue working towards a fair and reciprocal trade relationship with the EU that fixes this regulation while improving other aspects of trade for U.S. paper manufacturers.”

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US Forest Service research survives in House spending bill

By Marc Heller
E&E News by Politico
July 15, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States

House appropriators Monday turned away a Trump administration effort to slash the Forest Service’s research budget, proposing to hold spending steady at about $300 million in fiscal 2026. The proposal by the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee is part of an $8.5 billion annual spending plan for the Forest Service that largely ignores the administration’s most far-reaching proposals. Total spending for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 would be $16.8 million less than this year’s level. Spending not directly tied to fire suppression would total $3.6 billion, or about $107 million less than this year. The measure is scheduled for a subcommittee markup Tuesday. The research budget would total $302 million, of which $34 million would be reserved for forest inventory and analysis — the data-collecting operation that the administration hadn’t looked to scale back. [to access the full story an E&E News subscription is required]

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US Makes Affirmative Preliminary Determination in Trade Cases on Hardwood and Decorative Plywood from China, Indonesia, and Vietnam

By Wiley Rein LLP
PR Newswire
July 7, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, International

WASHINGTON — In a victory for US producers of hardwood and decorative plywood (HWDP), the US International Trade Commission (ITC) found that there is a reasonable indication that imports from China, Indonesia, and Vietnam are materially injuring the US HWDP industry. The Commission’s vote comes in response to petitions filed on behalf of the Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood. …The cases allege that unfairly dumped and subsidized imports of Chinese, Indonesian, and Vietnamese HWDP are injuring the domestic industry and threaten the industry with further injury. …The ITC’s affirmative preliminary injury determination paves the way for Commerce to move forward with its investigations. Unless extended, Commerce is expected to issue its preliminary CVD determination in August 2025 and its preliminary AD determination in October 2025. If Commerce also reaches affirmative preliminary determinations in these cases, provisional AD and CVD duties will be collected from importers based on the preliminary margins calculated.

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Idaho wildfire causes millions of dollars in damage to two family-run logging businesses

By Ned Newton
Bonners Ferry Herald
July 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: US West

NAPLES, Idaho — A fast-moving fire broke out Sunday, scorching 20 acres and causing millions of dollars in damage to two family-run logging businesses, according to one of the families affected. The Clover Fire was 75% contained by 2 p.m. Monday, roughly 24 hours after it began, according to Lizz Bloxsom, an incident command trainee with the Idaho Department of Lands. Full containment is expected by 8 p.m. this evening, ahead of a storm forecast to bring strong winds overnight. …Most of the damage occurred on the neighboring properties of the Sandelin family and the Tweet family. The Sandelins run the small logging business, UTR Land Management, and the Tweets run a family-owned business, SGA Cabin & Timber.  A member of the Sandelin family, who requested to remain unnamed, said damage to the lumberyard — including a razed sawmill and barn, over 300 truckloads of lumber, and industrial machinery — will cost their family millions of dollars.

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Rado Gazo Receives Lifetime Achievement Award from Forest Products Society

By Wendy Mayer
Purdue University
July 17, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: US East

Rado Gazo

Dr. Rado Gazo, professor of wood processing and industrial engineering who has been a part of the Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources faculty since 1997, has been named as the 2025 recipient of the Wood Engineering Achievement Award – Lifetime Achievement by the Forest Products Society. “I joined the Forest Products Society as a graduate student in 1990 and have actively participated in various roles ever since,” Gazo said. “While I did not seek this award, now that I have received it, I am very humbled by the recognition of my colleagues and peers.” The Forest Products Society is a premier international not-for-profit technical association founded in 1947. The award recognizes accomplishments and innovations in the discipline of wood engineering including structures, structural elements, building codes, consensus standards, design procedures and education.

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First responders put out fire at Louisiana Pacific building in Thomasville

By Nathan Prewett
Black Belt News Network
July 10, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

THOMASVILLE, Alabama — First responders from multiple fire departments put out a fire that broke out at the Louisiana Pacific building in Thomasville on Wednesday afternoon. A social media post from Thomasville Mayor Sheldon Day said that the Thomasville, Grove Hill, Hellwestern, Fulton fire departments and the Lousiana Pacific Fire Brigade Team responded to the scene and thanked them for putting it out. “Any fire on an extremely hot day like today is dangerous to firefighters. A large industrial fire in a confined space is not only dangerous but, can turn deadly very quickly,” he said. …Day said that all of the employees of the building and the firefighters on the scene were safe. He added that the damage was repairable.

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Kruger Products’ Memphis site announces new converting line for bathroom tissue and paper towels

Kruger Inc.
July 9, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario — Kruger Products announced today that its subsidiary, K.T.G. (USA) Inc. will be investing approximately $35 million in a new converting line for bathroom tissue and paper towels at its site in Memphis, TN. The installation is expected to be completed in Q2/2026 and will create about 20 jobs. “With the latest technology, this new converting line will allow us to expand our capacity and produce a wide range of high-quality tissue products for our customers and our White Cloud® brand”, said Gordon Goss, SVP & GM, U.S. & Mexico Consumer Business. “This new line is also part of our plan to reinvest and refocus our Memphis site on driving efficiency for our growing U.S. business.” [END]

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Cascades announces the permanent closure of its Niagara Falls corrugated medium manufacturing operations

Cascades Inc.
Cision Newswire
July 8, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: US East

KINGSEY FALLS, QC – Cascades Inc. announces that its corrugated medium manufacturing facility in Niagara Falls, NY will be permanently closed as part of the optimization of the Company’s packaging production platform. Production will end no later than September 3, 2025. This announcement aligns with the Company’s commitment to support strategic growth by focusing on profitability and customer service levels. The Niagara Falls production site has an annual production capacity of 200,000 short tons. A second machine at this facility was closed in 2023. “This is a difficult decision, but one that is an essential part of our focus on optimizing the performance of our Packaging sector,” said Jean-David Tardif, Executive Vice-President, Packaging. “The future growth momentum for Cascades and our customers is very promising, and we are well positioned to capitalize on opportunities for strategic and sustainable growth,” he added. Cascades would like to sincerely thank the 123 employees that are directly impacted by this decision…

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Hardwood Forestry Fund voluntarily dissolves operations; passes ‘torch’ with final distribution of $190,000

By Larry Adams
Woodworking Network
July 8, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

After funding 5 million seedlings for 289 projects, in 38 states and 4 foreign countries, the Hardwood Forestry Fund (HFF) has decided to voluntarily dissolve its operations.  The Board announced its final distribution of $190,000 to the Arbor Day Foundation and One Tree Planted to implement Hardwood Tree plantings in line with the HFF’s mission and goals. The Hardwood Forestry Fund promoted hardwood timber growth, management, education, and environmentally sound uses of renewable forest resources by providing grant funding to partnering organizations. …The HFF was formed in 1990 by members of the Hardwood Plywood and Veneer Association, which eventually became the Decorative Hardwoods Association. …During its 35 years of operation, the HFF funded projects that used seedling planting, direct seeding, and forest management techniques to promote natural regeneration and create sustainable forests on suitable and quality public sites. 

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Chillicothe Paper Mill: Potential Buyers, Shutdowns, Rumors, Reminiscences…

By Kevin Coleman
Sciotopost.com
July 7, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Possibly 18 potential buyers have looked at the Pixelle facility before Thursday’s deadline to make offers. And again, the weekly Monday meeting of the ‘paper mill response team’ was in executive session to be free to hash out plans – as reminiscences from employees, as well as rumors about what is happening there and what is being removed, fill the internet. Mill operator Pixelle – based in Pennsylvania, and owned by H.I.G. Capital of Miami, Florida – has been cooperative with corporate tours of the facility that has been largely shut down. …“The deadline set by HIG for purchase offers to be submitted – July 3 – has passed. To date, no information has been shared with local leaders or regional economic development partners regarding a sale or the future of the mill.

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Media got it wrong when it comes to Maine’s pulp and paper mills

By Krysta West, ED, Maine Forest Products Council.
Bangor Daily News
July 5, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

Krysta West

Biomass is part of the natural carbon cycle, which is why both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Maine Department of Environmental Protection — along with the vast majority of environmental agencies in other industrialized nations — consider it carbon neutral when it comes from sustainably managed forests. As new trees grow, they absorb the carbon released when wood is used as fuel, unlike fossil fuels, which add carbon that had been stored underground for millions of years. Some, like the D.C.-based Environmental Integrity Project, disagree. Their recent report criticizes mills for using forestry leftovers and other fuel that they claim “can be dirtier than coal.” …This is not just an attack on our pulp and paper industry, it’s an attack on our heritage, which is why it is troubling that the Bangor Daily News and others published a recent article that originated in the Maine Monitor based on EIP’s faulty report.

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Sumitomo launches its first ‘timber industrial complex’ in the US

By Larry Adams
The Woodworking Network
July 6, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US East

Sumitomo Forestry, a prominent Japanese timber and construction firm, completed July 1, 2025, the acquisition of Teal Jones Louisiana Holdings and plans to launch its first timber industrial complex in the US. This complex may also include taking wood waste and turning it into mass timber. …In addition to outside purchasers, Teal Jones-Plain Dealing (TJPD) plans to supply product to its group operations, such as the Fully Integrated Turn-key Provider operations and its residential property and real estate development operations. Furthermore, the company plans to utilize the approximate 40 hectares of unused land on the site to manufacture and sell mass timber and wood products in preparation for future increased demand. “We are also considering processing wood chips and lumber residue generated from the manufacturing process into biomass power generation fuel, bio-refineries and other,” the company said.

See Sumitomo Press Release: Launch of our first overseas timber industrial complex with the group integration of a major US lumber company 

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Firms admit laundering Russian wood into the EU, in sanctions- busting trade worth over €1.5bn

Earthsight.org.uk
July 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

Investigators at UK-based non-profit, Earthsight, have uncovered a booming trade in illegal Russian timber stretching throughout Europe and breaching war sanctions. The investigation ‘Exposing the EU trade in Russian conflict ply,’ caught firms on camera, in voice calls and through internal documents arranging a steady flow of Russian plywood into the EU. These companies are selling their illegal wood across the continent, and their customers include important manufacturers of climbing walls, toys, flooring, furniture and other products. Posing as buyers over a 9 month period, the investigators recorded traders admitting the practice is illegal, calling it a “gold mine” and suggesting techniques to avoid detection. The UK-based NGO estimates that more than 500,000 cubic metres of timber, with a retail value of over 1.5 billion Euros, has flowed from Russia through third countries and into the EU since sanctions were imposed in July 2022.

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